


Episode 26: Siblings

by PitoyaPTx



Series: Clan Meso'a [26]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Clan Ordo, Gen, Mandalorian, Mandalorian Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 11:16:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19333444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitoyaPTx/pseuds/PitoyaPTx
Summary: "If he can't talk to me, then I've failed as a sister." -BeunSibling drama in slow motion.





	Episode 26: Siblings

Back on the ground, Goldie slithered away into the compound, no doubt in search of more food. Beun knew she’d get a holo from some poor bastard missing his field rations. Something about those dehydrated insults to food made them a favorite snack of her scaled-son. She had no idea why nor did she want to know.   
She and Lyse helped Noga’n down the custom gangplank that was sloped just enough for him to make it up on his own should he need too. His near tumble earlier had tired him out, so the girls wanted to make sure he made it down safely. From there, he, Lyse, Teika, and Fent headed to the target range. His new leg had arrived a few days prior but they hadn’t tested it out yet. While Beun wanted to see the inevitable mess trying to aim with a leg would create, she wanted a word with Beon.   
“I’ll catch up,” he said with a wave then turned back to his sister still holding onto his forearm, “Yeah?”  
Beun fixed him with her burning gaze that was a lot less judgemental than he was used to. It unnerved him a little, but he swallowed and prepared himself. Normally she’d formulate decisions or opinions days in advance before she ever said anything to him. When they were younger, he felt like he was walking on a minefield with her. One day she’d be in a good mood, then the next she’d be upset but unwilling to admit she was. After a week of waiting for her to explode or show any indication of how she was feeling, she’d pull him aside and tell her that something he’d done had been bothering her. It wasn’t until he got older that he realized she did that because she knew she intimidated him. She was aware that she could be stern. She knew he was constantly compared to her, and she knew that if she lashed out at him or chastised him it would hurt his already low self esteem. In her mind, taking her time and letting her initial frustrations fade away would be better than letting things get heated. Beon knew this, and it took the edge off of her silence, but even as he turned thirty she could still see that hesitation in his eyes. She didn’t like it, but at this point the damage was done. He knew she’d never intentionally hurt him, but his mind had been trained to assume the worst whenever she pulled him aside. She sighed, letting go of his arm and crossing hers.   
“Why didn’t you tell me about Cara?”  
Beon felt his heart lurch and his stomach knot, “Fent told you?”  
“He’s a bad liar when he’s drunk.”  
“And?”  
Beun shrugged, “I want to know what you’re going to do.”   
“I’m…,” he hesitated, knowing full well he’d planned to visit the comm tower that evening, “There’s nothing I can do.”  
She smiled wryly and shook her head, “You’re a bad liar when you’re sober.”  
“What do you want from me?” he hissed, startling himself as much as her with his defensiveness.  
Beun narrowed her eyes and studied him for a moment. He faltered and rubbed the side of his face, “I.. sorry, vod, I guess I’m-”  
“Jiik spoke to you, I take it?” she surmised to his relief.   
He nodded, “I’m starting to think he’s right. She’s-”  
“Gone?”   
He nodded again, still unwilling to say the word himself.   
Beon showed his feelings differently from her. He was just as contemplative and never purposefully talked about his feelings, but his mannerisms spoke for him. At the moment, his arms were crossed and he wasn’t making eye contact. Instead, he was looking down and somewhere off behind her, his eyes unfocused and his lips a thin line. His brow was furrowed slightly, his chin close to his collarbone, and Beun could just tell there was a slight sway to his stance as if rocking himself forward and back. When nervous or thinking, he’d rock back and forth or shake his leg, especially if he was sitting. When standing, it was more like a bounce or a tilt. She watched him for a moment before putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him.   
“Makes me nauseous,” she said with a slight smile, “I always think you’re going to tip over.”  
He shook his head, gaze still off behind her, “The movement helps sometimes. Helps let the energy out.”  
“You’ve been saying that for years.”  
“It’s true.”  
“Maybe I just want you to talk to me, for once?”  
He met her eyes, searching them as if not believing her genuine desire to know his thoughts. Beun let out the breath she was holding in when his features began to relax. He let his arms drop, swinging them up and gesticulating to nothing.   
“I have no leads, Beun,” he finally said, “and even if I did what could I do?”  
“Fent says she liked you two, trusted you,” Beun took his wrists, letting him swing her arms with his, “Maybe she’d be glad to see you?”  
“What if she’s with another Clan? Jiik thinks whomever took her was mando’ad.”  
“Then maybe she’s one of us now. Maybe she’d be that much more excited to see you,” she moved to the side to keep in his line of sight, “Maybe she’d be excited to show you her armor or tell you about her hunts?”   
“No..no, Beun, she doesn’t have a violent bone in her body-”  
“Violent?” Beun raised her eyebrows, “Vod, we’re not violent.”  
“You know what I mean,” his countenance became stern again, “She’d be more likely to get dropped off in the Core or head back to Tatooine than become one of us.”  
Beun opened her mouth to retort, but his arms were slack and the tilt returned. She waited to see if he’d speak again, but his silence, his far-off stare, told her she had to step in again. He accepted her hands on his shoulders, his head drooping to meet her forehead.   
“You were going to ask her?”  
The question made his body ache.  
“She could have died,” he managed to say through the lump in his throat, “They’d slaughtered her family, Beun, and for what? Money.”   
Beon was probably the most open hearted person she knew. Most mando’ade she knew were so desensitized to the darker parts of the galaxy that a story like Cara’s wouldn’t phase them. Sure, they would’ve done the same as Fent and Beon in terms of helping her, but how many would try to find her? How many would spend nights in a dusty tower, scouring the holonet for any word on her wellbeing? How many would shrug and accept that things can just be like that sometimes? Not that Fent had forgotten about her, but Beun knew Beon wasn’t about to let this go. He might not be able to do anything, but he would always leave himself an opening should anything come up. He was just..like that. She admired him for his desire to be there for those in need, but at times she felt in got in the way of getting the job done.   
Beon winced at her sigh, his eyes shut and unwilling to meet hers.   
“I won’t tell you to stop looking,” she began, pulling away from him, “but you need to decide if this really is worth your time. If she is worth your time,” she added.   
“What do you mean by that?” he said softly, his voice growing hoarse.   
“There’s a war going on, vod, and a lone Mandalorian is an easy target.”  
“For who?” he looked up, “No one, not even the Republic, would dare disturb what little peace we have right now.”  
Beun’s face reminded him of Jiik’s the night they argued about Jango.   
“You’ve been gone too long.”  
“That’s what everyone keeps telling me.”  
“So they’ve told you about Deathwatch? About the Duchess?”  
He nodded, a graveness spreading across his features, “One Mandalorian isn’t going to set off any alarms. Especially when they’re alone.”  
Beon walked away, his lips a thin line again and his brow furrowed into a deep V. Beun’s face dropped when his meaning sunk in.   
“That’s not what I meant!” she called after him.   
Beon waved dismissively and disappeared around the corner.


End file.
